Caution: This website includes images and names of deceased people that may cause distress to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The artists

The artists featured here are, quite literally, Australia's old masters and their work constitutes a peerless artistic canon. Many of them were also ritual leaders, statesmen and cultural advocates. Together, they carried one of the oldest traditions of art known to man — Aboriginal art — into a new era, to establish its place in the world.

Learn more about the 'old masters' and their works

Old Masters celebrates the genius and art of these master bark painters from Arnhem Land.